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This blog serves my columns as an archive, a place to add footnotes,data sources and drafts of my weekly 550 word column for the Sky Hi News.(www.skyhidailynews.com) Often these drafts are posted on my Facebook page, The Muftic Forum.. To learn more about the posting subject, click onto the links at the end of the posting.Blog will be on vacation May 28-June 25 2018, with sporadic to no postings during that time.
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Monday, September 30, 2013

For Colorado blog readers, the resources cited are those mostly you can also contact.

Obamacare and Grand
County

One hurdle in
acceptance of Obamacare has been overcoming confusion and ignorance about what it means for” me and my
family.” Information coming from
Washington speaks in generalities and generic provisions, but some aspects of health care coverage vary from
state to state, county to county, and
individual to individual. The result has
been that the public has become a target for anti health care reform advocates
who take advantage of ignorance to feed fear.

As of October 1 we all now have an opportunity to find out what health care reform means for each of us
in Grand County even if the government is shut down or if there is a delay in funding. The offices and
websites will still be running regardless. It will not take another year to
understand it. It will be clear to you immediately if you contact the offices and websites already operating
and open for business.

Coverage for those who enroll by December 15, 2013 will
begin January 1, 2014 or affordable subsidized coverage would be kicked to
January 1, 2015, if the GOP ever gets it
way. Delay of funding would not kill it.
It would just make it more expensive with administrative costs continuing while only the more well-off would be able to afford premiums since there would be
no subsidies to lower the monthly charges.

In a government shutdown , the Congressional
Budget Office says the reform law implementation
can continue because it is an entitlement.
President Obama has promised to use his power to move funds around to pay personnel to administer it.

If you receive insurance from a large employer or government
entity, or you are on Medicaid or Medicare already, there will be little if any
change and you will not be able to go to
the market place exchanges to get
subsidized insurance, nor do you need to reapply. Obamacare has already closed much of the
Medicare drug donut hole and added ten years to Medicare’s life .

Like all health insurance per Obamacare, large business
provided insurance is already bound by
the consumer protections (no more caps, must cover pre-existing conditions, no more co-pay cancer screenings, no more higher
premiums for women than for men or overcharging for administration fees .)
Overcharges were already refunded to the
insured this year.

In Grand County individuals earning less than $15,856 or $30 thousand for a family of four will be
covered by expanded Medicaid. Individuals earning between $15, 856 a year and $45,960 and families of four earning between $32,499
and $94,200 may qualify for reduced cost
premiums per income level. For those who earn more, the
premiums for coverage bought through the exchanges have the cost advantages of a large group plan competing on a level playing field for your business. All will have a choice of
plans through Access Health Colorado, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield HMO,
Colorado HealthOP, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, and UnitedHealthcare. There are
a wide variety of coverage levels within their plans.

For those currently uninsured in Grand County,
much information can be found at www.connectforhealthco.com,
including the ability to sign up for insurance. The site gives the range of rates and plan comparisons. Their
telephone number is 1 855-752-6749. You
can also visit Northwest Colorado
Community Health, 416 Byers, in Hot Sulphur Springs. For Medicaid information, go to www.Colorado.gov/PEAK
or call 1-800-221-3943 .

Small business owners with less than 50 employees are not
required to provide health insurance. There
is helpful information about small business group rates at the connectforhealthco.com site and you may
qualify for a tax credit if you offer insurance to your employees. Open enrollment
in all business and personal plans ends
March 31, 2014.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Shades of 1995, 1996, and 2011. It has become a bad
Republican habit. The GOP threatens to shut down government unless they get their way. In the 1990’s the
issue was about wanting to cut Medicaid and Medicare. In 2011, it was the debt
ceiling. In 2013 Republicans want to deprive 30 million people of affordable health
care. This also sets the stage for upcoming elections to make class warfare the
substance of the battles.

The GOP has set the table upon which the Democrats
can feast. Republicans seem perpetually obsessed withreducing the size of government even if the programs attacked give the middle class a
hands up.When formulating any tax policy, their bottom line
is to protect the top one or two percent from any hit to their bank accounts.Those principles seem to be ideologically
applied to about every piece of legislation they encounter.

Do not think the middle class is oblivious. According
to this September’s NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, “Democrats
continue to be seen as the party that is most looking out for the middle class.
They lead (Republicans) on the question by 17 points. “

There are two issues on the Congressional table that
do not leap out to voters as middle class
issues, but they are, and the GOP is vulnerable on both.Obamacare is indeed a middle class issue andso
is shutting down the government. It is just that the Democrats have not
articulated those issues as affecting the middle class.They could easily.

Those with higher incomes can manage
to pay medical bills without going bankrupt and they not only can weather a
beating in their stock portfolios, they have thrived post recession. A middle class American family 24 years
ago was making more than a middle class
family made last year.The top 1 percent took more than one-fifth of the income
earned by Americans, one of the highest levels on record since 1913, when the
government instituted an income tax .A disparity that wide is fertile grounds
for discontent.

Obamacare
gives the middle classsecurity that, regardless of their health
condition, their income, or their employment situation now or in the future,
they will be able to afford health insurance that will also provide
preventative care and contains consumer protections from some bad insurance
company practices.

September 30 is when the government
runs out of money. The first
opportunity toapply for Obamacare coverage is the next day..The timing is not accidental. The Tea Party
perpetrators of the strategy hope to defund or delay Obamacare as part of their
resolution allowing government to pay their bills before the publiccan learn hands on that health care reform benefits them. It is easier to defund
something the public does not yet have
or understand than later to take away
something that is already an appreciated benefit. They may be tilting at
windmills, though, because the President holds the veto pen.

Governmentshutdown affects amiddle class that is hoping for economic
growth, more jobs, and sound retirement plans. Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas
Elmendorf warned that a “long broad shutdown” could “drag an already weak
economy”.U.S.
Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue said “It is insane not to raise
the debt ceiling”. Chief Economist for the National Association of Credit Unions:
“We basically would default on our debt, interest rates would go through the
roof, and we’d fall into another recession.”As
investment guru Warren Buffett said last
week of a threatened shutdown : that is “pretty (expletive) dumb.”

A shutdown is
also a dumb political move.Per a
September CNN/ORC International Poll "Only a third would consider President Barack Obama
responsible for a shutdown, with 51% pointing a finger at the GOP.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The whiplash of events last week that led to the agreement
with Russia and got us off the hook of a risky military strike against
Syriahas mewondering whether President Obama was achess master doing what he had planned all along or simply a
beneficiary of dumb luck.This is the stuff that books piled upon university courses are made of.

One take away could be that it was neither check mating nor
dumb luck.It was the flexible use of tactics in changing circumstances to support a pragmatic
strategy to reach a stated foreign policy goal.

Manyof the goals had
long been enunciated by Candidate Obama: it was no more boots on the ground, a military withdrawal from Iraq, Afghanistan,
and ending military meddling in other middle eastern countries’ business.If use
of military muscle would actually help meet those
goals, it should be limited and with an international effort with backing of our
allies and neighbors of the region affected.We should work with those who have common national interests at stake in that particular
situation, if not in all issues. It was this stated policy that won Obama the
Democratic Party nomination over Hillary Clinton, who had voted for military
intervention in Iraq.

It was that same
policy for which the GOP had criticized Obama as “leading from behind” or “weakening
American power and its exceptionalism” . That is until
many Republicans about faced, demandingwe should not take leadership in Syria, wait for the UN, andnot use our military might.

So far, Pres. Obama is being consistent with Candidate
Obama. He is making good on his withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq.An international coalition and limited, but
effective action in oil producing Libya worked
to bring regime change with no long term
use of our boots.

Syria is an even better example of Obama’s goals.It was to be a short term action, though it
kept Congress and Assad guessing if it was just a shot across the bow,
a pin prick, or actually taking out
airfields and means of delivery of chemical weapons. Our missiles off shore
spoke to a meaningful strike. The latter
appears to have gotten both Russia’s and Assad’s attention because that would
have shifted the balance of the civil war to the rebels’ advantage.

Mutual self interest
of Russia and the US was identified. We share a common enemy…al Qaeda like fighters. Neither
of us wanted to see them win the civil war, though the US approach was the
tricky job of arming the moderate rebels with small arms, while neighboring
Sunni nations provided the heavy anti tank supplies.Russia, with its Caucus problems, was beginning to fear that US military
action might jeopardize Assad and that
the chemical weapons would end up in the wrong hands.A peaceful solution was discussed by Presidents Putin and Obama at the
G20 in the week of September 5.

Sending the issue to
Congress before the G20 provided a delay to give this a chance to work out, though
Obama appeared to miscalculate the intensity of Congress’ opposition and or world opposition to forming a coalition of the
willing. If he had taken any lesson from the UK’s parliamentary vote against
intervention, it was not to take the issue to Congress and to strike immediately instead. That is reason
to believe referral to Congress was a
delaying tactic, givingtime to meet face to face with Pres. Putin and
to gain his support for a UN resolution.

While the UN deal does not include military consequences if
Assad fails to comply, the US has made it clear it reserves the right of
unilateral attack and to continue to arm moderate rebels. Our guns are still
cocked and pointed.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Pope Francis’ plea for peace in Syria and a day of prayer
last Sunday defined what much of the world fervently hopes is the end result of
what is an appalling civil war. Almost simultaneously The White House released
video clips of children and old people gassed and dying from an attack of
chemical weapons, weapons that the world
proclaimed were above and beyond the norms of civilization a hundred years ago
and agreed to ban them for use in war
forever.

The Pope saw the use
of force to be immoral; the Obama administration saw the use of chemical weapons
as immoral.This appears to be an unsolvable moral dilemma that gives shelter to both sides, to those who oppose US limited intervention in
Syriaand the rationalization for the
advocates who want to strike.It is not.To use one immoral act may be the only way
to achieve the moral goal of peace.

Peace, defined as a negotiated end to the conflict that
stops the slaughter,is a wish, a
prayer, and a hope, but to get there may require more violence.So many areexpressing a belief that if the
world put pressure on the Assad regime, embargoes, or so many of the non
violent strategies tried to change the behavior of Iran or North Korea, Assad
would find his way to the negotiating table.

It isnot just any negotiation we should seek. It is negotiation
in good faith that would end the conflict and also protect the Christian and
Alawite minorities in Syria from being
wiped out bySunni victors.The specter of the ethnic cleansing
of the Balkan wars has been invoked as the reason to protect the Assad
regime from collapsing because of US intervention.

That view is neither
logical nor is the goal achievable.The
question is how can anyone from the
outside of Syria convince Bashar al Assad that it is in his interest to
negotiate in good faith?So long as he
has allies of Russia and Iran to supply him with weapons or trading partners in China,
embargoes and economic pressure or world condemnation would not work. So long as he perceives he is winning, that he
controls every major urban city, as he does now, why should he give away ground or power?

Something must change. Either the West arming the moderate
opposition or a strike that would take out Assad’s air and delivery systems so
that the playing field is so leveled the futility of continued bloodshed will
be obvious to both sides.The sad part
is that combatants who holster their WMD will still draw out the shed of
civilian blood for a long time with conventional methods, but a strategic
strike by missiles and air that levels the playing field would have quicker results.What about collateral damage of missile and
air strikes? It all depends upon the surgical skill of those able to carry out
the mission, and only the US has that capability.

That is the lesson of
the NATO intervention in Bosnia in the 1990’s.Until airstrikes took down the Serbian air force ,the Bosnian Serbs/Serbia itself, saw no
reason to come to the table.The
massacre of 7,000 men in the killing
fields of Srebrenica and the shelling of Sarajevo and Dubrovnik caused moral outrage throughout the
world , but moral condemnation was not
enough.The reality of those desperately
seeking or keeping power is that they
only understand the use of sticks and stones, because words would never hurt
them. The skill of US armed forces, without boots on the ground, kept resulting
civilian casualties to a bare minimum and resulted in the Dayton accord that
ended the bloodshed while protectingthe
minorities.

About Me

Felicia Muftic is a political columnist with the Sky Hi Daily News, Grand County, Colorado. She writes on current events from a pragmatic, fact based, reasoned perspective.
Felicia has nearly 50 years of involvement in politics, finance,and consumer affairs as either a fly on the wall in international, national, state and local levels or a participant.
Parallel to all of this is intense involvement for over 50 years in the the political process, serving in both cabinet and staff in the administration of Mayor Federico Pena . Partially educated in Europe and married to physician-refugee from the Balkans, her interests are not confined to US domestic problems, but she also has a world view and experiences which are often reflected in her columns.
Felicia Muftic es un columnista político del diario Sky News Hola, Grand County, Colorado. Felicia tiene casi 50 años de participación en la política, las finanzas y de asuntos del consumidor, ya sea como una mosca en la pared en la internacional, nacional, estatal y local o de un participante. Para más información, visite www.mufticforum.com